Strong storm leads to Allendale power outage, flooding on Route 17

Flooding on southbound Route 17 in Saddle River Friday afternoon closed the road for almost two hours.

A strong Friday afternoon storm wreaked havoc on Allendale roads and took down a power line, Police Chief George Scherb said. The entire borough was without power briefly, but service was being restored, as of 5 p.m.

"It’s just a mess," the chief said.

Railroad under passes at West Orchard and West Crescent avenues, that split the town in half, were both flooded and had cars stuck in them.

"The one by West Crescent floods frequently but the one by West Orchard rarely floods," Scherb said. "That’s how we know it was a bad storm."

Motorists drove into the puddles and then were able to evacuate their vehicles without injury, he said.

The chief said he was hopeful that the underpass flooding would go down within the hour.

The fire department and department of public works were both out in the borough closing flooded streets.

A power wire also came down near 165 West Crescent Avenue, by Ivers Road. Orange & Rockland Electric are on the scene, Scherb said.

A storm outage map on Orange & Rockland’s website says that four outages in the borough are affecting 48 customers and that service will be restored by 10 p.m.